Ludhiana : The BJP on Thursday alleged that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his wife were running a racket through middlemen in which rape cases were being “settled” in exchange for Rs 5 crore. BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari also released audio clips in which an alleged middleman could be heard invoking his political connections to settle rape and criminal cases.
“Bhagwant Mann and his wife are running a loot and corruption racket. Under it, they are using middlemen to settle legitimate rape cases in exchange for Rs 5 crore,” Bhandari said. “The clips prima facie raise serious questions about whether the CM is personally intervening to end a case. Has the CM’s residence become a place where deals are struck and cut money reaches Punjab’s ‘Super CM’ Arvind Kejriwal?” he further said.
Earlier in the day, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) met the Punjab Governor and sought a CBI probe into alleged corruption in the Chief Minister’s Office and attempts to protect a rape accused. The development comes days after a notice was issued by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to Bhagwant Mann’s wife following allegations that Rs 5 crore was allegedly demanded to shield Chahal in the rape case.
The incident surfaced in April, when the father of the woman alleged that she was abducted by Gurvinder Chahal, a resident of Mohali. An FIR was registered on April 29 in Amritsar. The woman was rescued on May 1, following which rape charges were added. Two weeks later, Chahal was arrested. However, he was released in July, with the SAD accusing the Punjab Police of carrying out a “botched investigation”.
The petition mentioned that Chahal himself approached the court through his aide Simranjeet Singh Hundal, alleging that a person named Amardeep Singh Grewal was demanding crores to hush up the case. The plea claimed Grewal cited his closeness to the Chief Minister’s wife.
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